Tick Tock
by ncis29
Summary: When the L.A. team gets a case connected to Dom's disappearance, the best team in the agency, Team Gibbs, is called out to help. When Ziva and Kensi are taken by the same people who have Dom, two teams have to work together to save their friends.
1. Prologue

**Helloooooooooooooo people! **

**Yes, I am still alive here! I was hoping to post this story like, weeks ago, but my computer broke (again), I lost all my notes for this story (got em now though!), and I've just been busy, but it's here now!**

**I have the ENTIRE story planned, but just gotta do that writing thing…so once I update, hopefully I will update regularly. (Let's say once a week)**

**So before you read, this is just the prologue, and as you probably figured out, the title Tick Tock won! Yay for those who voted for it! **

**PLEASE READ BOTTOM AUTHOR'S NOTE!**

_Prologue_

_A man in camouflage pants, combat boots, and a black t-shirt walked leisurely down a long, dirty hallway. Door after door passed him, but he didn't stop to enter any of the concealed rooms behind them. He walked until he was at the very last door, a wooden one, before unlocking the plethora of bolts and locks and stepping inside._

_The door closed with a bang, blocking all light from the hall, submerging the room in near darkness. The man sauntered to the center of the square-shaped room, only a few feet from the door, to a man tied in a chair._

_The man in the chair looked up, a brave face permanently plastered on his young face._

"_What do you want?" the tied up man asked, making his voice as fierce and strong as possible. The other man just laughed though, and leaned in uncomfortably close, his smoky breathe puffing annoyingly into the other man's eyes._

"_I do not want much. Just information." He informed the man, a sarcastically humorous smile gracing his lips._

"_What kind of information?" the sitting man asked, already sure he knew the answer._

_The standing man unexpectedly grabbed the sitting man's shirt collar, pulling him as far out of his wooden chair as his restraints would allow. "Just tell me everything you know about NCIS, and you and the other will go free."_

"_Others? You mean I'm not the only one getting the royal treatment here?"_

_The standing man chuckled and pulled a photo out of his pants pocket, holding it out to the man, who barely had enough light to decipher the image. What he saw made his blood run cold, and he swallowed dryly before turning away from the photo, towards his captor._

"_What do you want to know?"_

**I think you know who the man in the chair is…**

**Now that you have a little taste of this story, REVIEW! Or that's all you're tasting!**

**In your review, please tell me what ships you want! I can do Tiva, McAbby, or Gensi/Callensi (whatever G/Kensi is), so please tell me what you want, if you want any!**

**So just go ahead…click the button…review…**


	2. Sighs

**PLEASE READ THIS! IT IS IMPORTANT!**

**Ok first off, a warning! **

_**This story is rated M for language/torture/rape. (that should help you guess ahead…)**_

**Next, I know the L.A. team usually does undercover stuff, but here they also investigate like the D.C. team.**

**Also, I have decided that all the top author notes (excluding this one) are just going to be me talking about nothing important and the bottom ones will have actual useful information. **

**So, read on!**

_**Chapter 1: Sighs**_

It was your average morning at the NCIS headquarters in Los Angeles, California. Special Agent G. Callen sat at his desk, working on almost anything that could help find Dom.

Henrietta Lang was in her office, sipping tea, watching the bullpen. She had been paying extra close attention to Callen's team since Dom's disappearance. They all talked to Nate, who was currently up in their MTAC of sorts doing something with Eric. Even though Hettie respected Nate and his ability to do his job, she still felt the need to watch the team.

Only minutes later, Sam Hanna strolled in, just on time, if not a bit early. He took his seat after a nod in G's direction, and got to work on cold cases.

Only ten minutes late, Special Agent Kensi Blye walked in, her apology for her usual tardiness falling on deaf ears as G and Sam discussed Dom quietly.

Kensi ignored their conversation, feeling that they were searching too hard for the solution. She was confident that the solution was going to find them, and was ready to wait for it. For a while, at least.

All three agents barely noticed as Hettie made her way upstairs and into MTAC, not thinking anything of it. They continued their separate silent tasks for several more minutes, before Eric blew a whistle, indicating they were all needed upstairs.

They all scurried up the stairs, Callen and Kensi a little ahead of the bear that was Sam.

They walked in MTAC and closed the door, walking up towards Hettie and the screens.

"I just got a call about a dead marine over in front of the Salt Bay apartments. The three of you are needed their promptly." Hettie said, explaining the reasoning for their trip up. All three nodded, and Callen told Sam to go get the car.

Sam went ahead, while Callen and Kensi walked behind.

"Hettie said the body is in front of the Salt Bay apartments?" Kensi clarified with Callen.

"Yea, it's right in front of it." Callen answered, and noticing Kensi's frustrated expression and silence continued. "Why? You know someone who lives there?"

"No, well…I don't _think_ so. They just sound familiar. Like I've been there before." She explained.

"Maybe you have. Maybe a suspect or a witness lived there." Called reasoned, as he stepped off the curb towards the waiting black Charger.

"True." Kensi agreed as she slid gracefully into the back seat. Something inside of her however was telling her this case wasn't going to end well. That this "déjà vu" of sorts was important or dangerous.

She just sighed and slumped back in the leather seat, staring blankly out the window, anticipating an aggravating ride.

The black Charger gracefully slid up to the crime scene, behind all of the large NCIS trucks. Sam, Kensi, and G all stepped out of the vehicle, and walked together to the body.

While Sam and Callen bent down to get a closer look at the body, Kensi looked up, squinting against the harsh rays of the Los Angeles sun, at the apartment building. With a gasp she recognized the exterior. It was Dom's apartment building.

She turned towards Sam and Callen, ready to tell them how she remembered this place, when Callen started to speak instead.

"Hey, Kensi. Come look at this." Agent Blye reluctantly walked over to the body, but stopped dead at what she saw.

The body was mangled and twisted on the sidewalk. The marine's uniform was drenched in blood, most likely from the multiple cuts and lacerations across his arms, chest, and neck.

As if that wasn't bad enough, engraved on the poor man's forehead was a 5 and a D.

"We think its some sort of clue. Most likely it's for an apartment in this building. We're going to go check it out, you stay here. Start processing the rest of the scene." Callen said, turning to walk into the Salt Bay apartments lobby.

"Wait! Callen! I recognize this building! And…that apartment. Dom lived in the Salt Bay building, apartment 5D." a confused Kensi said, breathing hard.

_Why is it suddenly really warm? It's only ten o'clock. _Kensi thought, removing her black leather jacket.

Callen exchanged a glance with Sam, before instructing another group of agents to go look through the apartment while he called Hettie.

Meanwhile, Sam trudged his way over to the Charger, leaning against the side. After a moment of hesitation, Kensi walked over too, but instead of leaning against the car, chose to open the back door and sit on the soft seat, her legs spread out next to Sam.

They both watched in silence as other agents finished processing the scene, taking photos and bagging anything that seemed like it was somehow tied to the crime, occasionally stealing glances at Callen talking quietly to Hettie on his cell phone.

He smirked slightly before saying goodbye and walking over to the Sam and Kensi.

"Hettie wants us back at HQ. She says the other agents are going to finish up here." Callen announced. Usually these words would elicit smiles and sighs of relief from his team, but today they only nodded and got in the car, not even bothering to fight over who drives or has to sit in the back.

Callen just hopped into the driver's seat with a sigh and started the engine. He started to inch his way out of his parking space along the curb, when a young agent came running over to the vehicle, waving his arms and shouting for him to stop.

Callen rolled down the window and waited patiently for the agent to make his way over.

He leaned into the open window and took a moment to catch his breath before speaking.

"We found this in apartment 5D," he said holding out an evidence bag with a piece of paper in it, "and they told me to bring it out to you." He finished and handed the clear bag to Callen.

Callen nodded and thanked him, and watched as the young man scurried back inside, slightly intimidated by the older, famous agent, yet proud he completed his task, no matter how simple.

Callen shook his head at how innocent the man was before turning back to the note. He quickly read over it and froze. Sam, sitting next to him in the passenger seat, leaned over to look at it.

"What's it say, G?"

"It's a note from the people who took Dom." Callen whispered.

"But what does it say?" Kensi asked, leaning forward in-between the two agents.

"It says, "We'll be in touch." and has a picture of Dom attached." Callen managed, staring in horror at the picture of the youngest, most inexperienced member of his team.

It was a small square photo, with white edges around it, the kind that develops and comes right out of the camera. It showed Dom wearing the same clothes he wore in the video of his kidnapping, tied to a wooden chair in a barely lit room. The room had no windows and could be anywhere.

Dom's face was puffy and swollen on the right side, and a little blood was dripping down his face from a cut on his head. Despite his current situation, Dom was still smirking into the camera. He was holding up.

Without another word, Callen put the evidence bag down and once again started moving out of his parking space. They were riding down the street in silence, each deep in thought, when Kensi spoke up from the back seat.

"This is good, right?" she said. After receiving two incredulous and concerned stares, she spoke again. "Not _good_ good, like candy good, but like technically it's good news! We have a lead! The people who have Dom have contacted us and will be contacting us again! This is our chance to get Dom back!"

Sam and G looked at each other, then at her through the side mirrors.

"Yea, maybe Kenz." Callen said, somewhat disbelieving.

The rest of the ride to HQ was completely silent, Kensi in a far better mood than earlier, thinking of the new possibility of getting back Dom. Sam was skeptical about how good this really was, and Callen was thinking of that photo of Dom, of _his_ probie.

He swiftly parked the car, and stole one glance at Kensi in the back seat, a small smile on her face as she thought, and hoped that she was right. That this was a good thing, not some horrible scheme from Dom's kidnappers. Raise their hopes just to send Dom back in a body bag.

With a sigh, he seemed to be sighing a lot today, he got out of the car and walked into headquarters with Sam and Kensi.

They barely had the time to drop their bags and coats before Eric's whistle sounded for the second time that morning, and he waved them up.

Callen quickly snatched the evidence bag from his desk, and followed his colleagues up the steps, noticing how Kensi had a slight bounce in her step nobody had seen for weeks, and how Sam had his head down, thinking so hard he nearly walked into every person or wall he encountered.

The team walked into MTAC. Hettie was standing right next to the doorway, and had a hand out for the evidence bag immediately. G handed it over without protest, and watched Hettie dial a number on her phone, before walking over to where Kensi and Sam were telling Eric and Nate about the note and picture.

Callen reached them right as Eric put a hand in the air and said, "Well, that's great! You guys have a lead!"

He smiled brightly, a smile Kensi happily returned, while Sam and G just shared another look, something not going unnoticed by Nate.

"That's exactly what I said, but Mr. and Mrs. Pessimist over here disagreed." Kensi said motioning towards Sam and Callen.

"Pessimist?" Sam asked at the same time Callen said "Mr. and Mrs.?"

Kensi was about to retaliate when Hettie called them over.

"Director Vance will be onscreen in ten seconds." She announced.

Everyone glanced at each other before swiftly sprinting to the front of the screen. Just as Hettie said, exactly ten seconds passed before the blank screen blinked and then displayed the face of NCIS Director Leon Vance. They could all tell he was in his office in D.C. by the clear view of the Washington Monument through the glass window behind him.

He smiled slightly at the group before speaking, "It has come to my attention that you now have a lead in the case of the disappearance of Agent Dominic Vale. I know you are all fantastic investigators, but with one man short, and the importance of this case, I am sending Team Gibbs from here in D.C. over to assist you. I know you have worked with Agents Gibbs and McGee before, as well as Abigail Scuito who will be accompanying them. Also on the team are Agents DiNozzo and David. They will be there in six hours. I wish the best of luck to you on the case," and with a short pause he added, "And Team Gibbs."

He made the cutting signal and the screen went blank.

It was silent for a moment before Eric slowly leaned closer to Callen and said in a loud whisper, "Why did Director Vance wish us luck with Agent Gibbs and his team?"

Callen just looked over at Hettie, than back to Eric. He shrugged a smirk on his face, before heading back to the bullpen, Kensi and Sam hot on his heels.

**And chapter one is done! Wooo! So press that little button down there and review! Dom depends on it!**

**P.S. I didn't want to post this before I had more chapters done, but I couldn't resist. So updates should be **_**soon.**_** :) Review :)**


	3. Airport HideandSeek

**Remember! The top author's note (this) has no real purpose! So if you want to read this, cool! If not, only the bottom's note is really anything important.**

_**Chapter 2: Airport Hide-and-Seek**_

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat at his desk, drinking a not-so-warm coffee, dreading the day. He and his team hadn't had a case in two weeks, and it was starting to affect them. They had all their paperwork done after only three days. The last ten days had been filled with going over cold cases, working out in the gym, or anything else they could possibly think of that was even slightly productive to do.

Gibbs had just thrown away his coffee when he heard the infamous _Ping!_ of the elevator, announcing the arrival of at least one of his agents; in this case, two.

"I do not understand. Why name the dog after their father?" Gibbs heard Ziva inquire, right before she and McGee rounded into the bullpen.

"I already told you Ziva, they didn't name their dog after their dad." McGee sighed, putting his bag down and nodding in Gibbs' direction.

Ziva nodded in Gibbs' direction as well and sat down before continue their conversation.

"The dog's name is Bo, McGee."

"So?"

"So, B is for Barack, O for Obama, put them together, McGee, and you get Bo." Ziva stated, crossing her arms.

"Ok, I admit that is a strange coincidence, but the reports say that the president's daughters named the dog Bo because their cousins have a cat named Bo and because Mrs. Obama's father was nicknamed Diddley, as in Bo Diddley."

"Ok, so they named their dog after their grandfather and this Bo Dinkly person?" Ziva asked.

McGee stared at Ziva for a second before speaking, "In a way yes, they did name the dog after their grandfather, but do you really not know who Bo Diddley is?"

Before Ziva could answer there was a gasp from the entrance to the bullpen, as Tony arrived. He threw his bag behind his chair, and slowly turned in little baby steps to look at McGee.

"Who dares not know who Bo Diddley is?"

"Ziva." McGee reluctantly answered, mentally preparing himself for what Tony had to say about this.

Tony sucked in a large breathe before turning to Ziva. "ZEE-vah!" he scolded. "How, HOW, can you not know who Bo Diddley is?"

"I don't know, Tony. Apparently he is important to you. Another man-mance perhaps?" she asked with a smirk and that evil glint in her brown eyes when she comes up with a particularly good retort or prank for Tony.

Tony laughed without humor, rubbing his hands together, walking towards his desk. Right as he reached it he turned quickly and pointed a finger at Ziva.

"You, you do not understand. Bo Diddley was an _amazing_ musician. I can't imagine someone not knowing him. Did your parents raise you under a rock in Antarctica?" Tony asked, seemingly without interest, but kind of hoping on getting some information on Ziva's top secret past or personal life.

Ziva just rolled her eyes as Tony opened his mouth to continue.

Gibbs, who had been watching this entire discussion in silence, decided now would be a good time to intervene, to get his team to work, and save them all from a headache.

"DiNozzo, can it. Get to work."

"But Boss, we have no work to do," and seeing the famous "Gibbs Glare" wisely continued, "but, I am going to find some. Right, work. Got it."

The next few minutes passed in silence, excluding the ever-present sound of keyboards tapping and phones ringing accustomed with an office.

The silence was broken when the _Ping!_ of the elevator sounded again, followed by the clacking of heavy boots, and the squeal of Abby.

"Ohmygosh! I'm soo excited! L.A. guys! Aren't you excited? We have to go home and pack, and—" Abby stopped in the middle of the bullpen and looked around, a huge smile on her face.

"Abby, what are you talking about?" McGee asked.

Abby's smile transformed into a confused grimace as she looked around, slowly saying, "You know, Director Vance is sending you guys and me to Los Angeles. We are helping look for Agent Vale on Callen's team… I just got the call downstairs!"

"Well, he didn't tell us, Abby." Tony said.

"I just got a call from Henrietta Lang. She is in charge of the office in L.A. They just got a lead for the case of the disappearance of their team member, Agent Dominic Vale. With them being down one, and seeing how cases here are nonexistent, I agreed to send you, and Miss Scuito to help. I just told Miss Scuito and was coming down to tell you, but it appears Miss Scuito did that for me." Vance said with a smile, eliciting a tiny blush of embarrassment from Abby.

"Your flight is at six o'clock. Go home, pack, and be here by two to head over to the airport." Vance finished, nodding to the team and heading back to his office.

The team sat there for a few moments, with Abby standing in the middle beaming at them.

"You heard the man. Go. Pack. Be back here at two." Gibbs said, dismissing his team.

They all nodded and grabbed their bags and coats, before heading to the elevator with Abby, talking about the trip.

Gibbs watched them enter the elevator, and saw Ziva punch Tony before the doors closed.

Gibbs smirked before grabbing his own coat, and heading to the elevator. First, he would get coffee. Then, he would pack for what promised to be an interesting trip.

Several hours later, at exactly two o'clock in the afternoon, Gibbs stepped of the elevator and into the bullpen, fresh coffee and small black bag in hand.

Gibbs was surprised to see he was the last to arrive. McGee was standing by the plasma, average red duffel bag discarded at his feet. Tony was lounging in his chair, feet propped up on his desk, and larger blue bag on the floor.

Ziva was sitting at her desk, tiny black bag next to her, probably smaller than Gibbs'. Standing next to Ziva was Abby, black back with skulls in hand. Both girls were talking animatedly about something, most likely the trip.

Just moments after Gibbs arrived, Vance walked into the bullpen and looked pleased to see everyone was on time.

"Good afternoon everyone. I'm happy to see you are all on time and ready. Two cars are waiting outside for you to take to the airport. I will be in close contact with Ms. Lang in Los Angeles, so please behave and get back my agent."

The team watched as Vance walked away, and Tony waited until he was well out of earshot before muttering, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Director."

Everyone smirked at him before wordlessly grabbing their bags and cramming into the too small elevator.

The ride down to the main entrance was too slow for the team's liking, and they all nearly fell out of the elevator as the doors opened. It was decided wordlessly that Gibbs would be in one car, and Abby, McGee, Ziva, and Tony in the other.

The quartet watched Gibbs car pull away, before clambering into theirs. McGee managed to get in the driver's seat, and Abby snagged the passenger's seat, leaving Tony and Ziva in the back.

McGee pulled away from the curb after everyone was securely buckled, something Ziva would not have deemed important, and started for Dulles International Airport.

Expecting a forty minute drive _without_ traffic, everyone got comfy and took out various things to entertain themselves.

For Abby, her iPod and headphones, out of courtesy for the other occupants of the vehicle. McGee was driving, and Tony just whipped out his phone to play Tetris. Ziva choice of amusement was a book, written in Hebrew.

The drive was pretty uneventful and after making excellent time, the government vehicle pulled smoothly into a parking space. The car next to theirs was Gibbs', and they were all surprised to discover he was not there.

They were even more surprised when Ziva called out there was a piece of paper taped to the sign next to their car.

They were completely shocked to find it was a note from Gibbs, telling the team his "phone thinga-majing" stopped working again, and that he would be getting coffee and to meet him there.

They all stared at it for a second before Tony spoke in a soft whisper. "Do you know how _many_ places there are for coffee in Dulles International Airport?"

Ziva tilted her head to the side, and squinted her eyes a bit before turning to Tony, "I think an even better question would be how Gibbs knew we would park here but for the answer to your question…I am guessing a lot…"

"And we have no way to contact him." Abby sighed.

"Ok, well how about we get through security, and then go place by place for coffee until we find him. It shouldn't be too bad." McGee suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, Stan." Tony started, looking up at a plane taking off. "Let's go!" and they all started for the entrance.

Getting through security was easy with their badges and soon they were standing in front of a large map of the airport.

"Ok, so it looks like there are about eleven places for coffee in the entire airport; three on the first floor, five on the second, another three in the food court, and one by the entrance. I looked in the one by the entrance and he wasn't there so he has to be at these other ten locations." McGee explained.

"Okay, so how about we start on the first floor, work our way up to the second, then head over to the food court?" Abby suggested, secretly thrilled at their unscheduled game of airport hide-and-seek.

Everyone agreed and soon they were walking together, on the lookout for coffee shops and hopefully Gibbs.

Tony and Ziva were in the front, practically on each other's backs, not something unnoticed by McGee and Abby.

The first shop was spotted by Ziva, and the team excitedly ran over, only to see an elderly man and a small family of three at the little café.

With a shrug Ziva kept walking, and everyone soon followed.

They didn't have to go far before Tony spotted the next place for coffee. Excited with his find, he sprinted ahead, straight for the shop.

Unfortunately, he did not see the middle-aged foreign woman who sadly was in his path.

Before the rest of the team could even open their mouths to stop him, he slammed right into the poor woman, causing her to drop her various bags and fall right on her bum.

Tony flew backwards, landing flat on his back, but quickly recovered. For a moment the woman and he just stared at each other before he quickly got up. He started to help her up and gather her things for her, apologizing the whole time. As he was passing her a couple of magazines, she started yelling at him in a language that was foreign to the team, even Ziva.

He dropped most of the magazines in surprise, but not before the woman grabbed one and started swatting at him with it.

Tony put his arms up in defense, and tried to calm the woman down in vain.

"Ma'am," _thwack!_ "It was a complete accident," _thwack!_ "Please just," _thwack! _"Ma'am if you could just stop hitting me,"_ thwack!_

Abby, McGee, and Ziva watched in amusement as Tony continued to try and make the woman calm down. It was after several more hits from the woman, and pleas and curses form Tony, that the woman stopped and grabbed her things before swiftly walking away.

Everyone stood completely still. Abby slowly walked closer to the café, stared for a moment, before turning back to the group, an amused smirk on her face.

"Uh, Gibbs isn't here either."

"Wonderful." Tony muttered, before starting up their march again down the airport.

The team continued on in silence, and it was several minutes until the next coffee shop was spotted, this time by Abby. They all, carefully, ran over and sighed when yet again their boss was nowhere in sight.

"This is insane!" Tony whined as they rode the escalators up to second floor. "Only Gibbs would send us on some wild goose-chase for him through an entire airport for coffee!"

The rest of them just ignored him and waited for the escalator to finish its ascent before stepping off and once again starting their long trudge in search of Gibbs.

The next shop was spotted by Ziva, and yet again Gibbs was not there.

As they started walking again Tony spoke, "You know, I bet Gibbs isn't really in one of these cafés. He's probably up with the security watching the videos of us, as we go mad." He stuttered, clearly losing his mind.

"Tony, that is ridiculous. Gibbs wouldn't do that." Abby defended her boss. Tony however barely heard her, because he spotted the closest security camera and ran up to it, getting his face as close as possible.

"YA HEAR THAT, BOSS? YA GOT US! VERY FUNNY! NOW GET UP AND GET YOU'RE A-"

"Tony!" Ziva yelled as she grabbed his shoulders. "Gibbs is NOT in there, he is NOT playing a trick on us, and we are NOT going to keep on yelling at the poor people watching the security films! Do that again and I won't even tell you what I'll do with my paperclip." She yelled at him, shaking his shoulders all along.

Tony nodded his head, ignoring the various looks and stares directed towards them, and swallowed before saying, "You're right. This is exactly how he wants us to react…"

"Whatever, Tony. Can we please just find Gibbs so we can board the damn plane?" Ziva sighed, releasing her hold on her partner.

"Yea, sure." Tony said, and the foursome trudged on.

They found and searched the remaining four coffee shops on the second floor without luck, and quickly made their way over to the food court, knowing their boss just _had_ to be there.

Sure enough, after an hour of searching, they found their boss at a small Starbucks in the crowded food court, nursing a cup of coffee.

They walked over at him and sent him their best glares, but he, unfazed, just finished his coffee and asked, "What took you so long? We gotta go board the plane now."

He started to walk away, but the rest of the team just stood there; shocked.

"Working in Homicide wasn't nearly as insane as this." DiNozzo muttered, still just standing there.

Ziva smirked and turned to leave, everyone following suit. "Not even Mossad was as crazy, and that's _really_ saying something!" she muttered.

Less than an hour later, the team was stepping onto the aircraft, searching for the right seats.

"Ok so it looks like one person is in row D—" McGee started, but didn't get to finish as Gibbs quickly grabbed that ticket and started for his row.

"Have a nice flight." He muttered as he went, _Sniper Monthly_ in hand.

"Sure. Okay, so that leaves two of us in row J, the middle and aisle seat, and the other two in row S, the window and middle seat.

"We get row S!" Abby screeched, wrapping her arms around McGee's arm.

"Why?" Tony challenged.

"Well S is for Scuito and I'm awesome, and I want a window seat!" she explained, as if that was obvious.

"Fine, we will take J. But Tony has to sit in the middle." Ziva agreed, taking the two tickets from McGee and starting down the aisle for J.

Tony, Abby, and McGee followed her, stopping at row J.

The entire team gasped, as they saw who was sitting in the window seat. It was the woman who Tony ran into, plethora of magazines in hand. She glared at a frightend-looking Tony and laughing Ziva as they sat down.

McGee and Abby snickered as they continued down the aisle, very glad Tony could not deny Abby anything.

The plane was soon in the air, and after some awkward silence from the unhappy trio in row J, Ziva turned around, and looked back through the surprisingly empty plane.

"Hey McGee? I still don't get why they named the dog Bo!" she called.

"What?" Tony half-yelled in exasperation.

Before Ziva could answer, the woman next to Tony rolled up a magazine and whacked him, raising a finger to her lips in the international symbol of "be quiet".

Tony nodded, swallowing hard, and sat rigid and straight in his chair, anticipating a long flight.

**Before you start throwing giant rocks at me let me explain why this update is WAAAAAAAAAY past due! As most other children in America, school has started for me. Since September 7, I have had no time from Monday-Friday from 8-3. Not to mention homework and projects (which I got both of the first day), volleyball, basketball, and having some sort of life, I have been busy. But rest assured, the next updates should come quicker!**

**Now, thank you to everyone who alerted/reviewed this. Especially you reviewers! I hope all those who alerted like this chapter, and hopefully can forgive me and toss me a review!**

**teamtiva: Sorry for the late update, and by the way, reviewing and reminding me to update really sped up the process! :) This will be Tiva, and I will postpone my evil plots of fluff for much later. The L.A. team will **_**definitely**_** notice, and this will **_**DEFINETLY **_**be Abby/McGee, but maybe not as intense as the Tiva. I can't stand Abby/Eric. Find your own Goth!**

**HEADS UP: Next chapter, the teams meet!**

**P.S. Please, if you can, review, and if you totally don't hate this fic, tell your friends about it! Also, any other pairings ideas for the L.A. team?**

**P.P.S. DID YOU SEE THE SEASON PREMIERES! EPICCCCCC!**

**P.P.P.S. I looked up how long it would take to get to the airport this time. I didn't want another the-Nationals-stadium-is-actually-right-next-to-the-navy-base thing from my three-shot. Yay research!**

**Hopefully will be back soon,**

**ncis29 :)**


	4. Heat

**Author's note on bottom! Please read! (Maybe even before you read the chapter…)**

_**Chapter 3: Heat**_

Just over seven hours after their takeoff in D.C., Team Gibbs had retrieved their bags and were now walking towards the shiny, black NCIS issued car dropped off by some other agents earlier.

Gibbs, of course, got to drive, and Tony snagged shotgun. Abby was in the "backseat, middle hump" as Tony called it, with McGee or Ziva on either side.

The ride was silent, but not in an uncomfortable way. You could tell everyone was excited, interested to see the L.A. office. It was nice, from what Abby told them, and at least McGee and Gibbs had met the people a year ago.

Tony and Ziva were especially intrigued. New city, new office, new agents. Everything was new and unfamiliar. It was kind of unsettling. Los Angeles didn't have the best history with these two particular agents.

The ride wasn't long, and soon enough Team Gibbs was pulling into a seemingly deserted alley.

Abby immediately hopped out of the vehicle, after climbing over a "too slow" McGee. Having been here before she was not surprised by the strange location of the OSP headquarters. Soon enough everyone else had made their way out of the car and retrieved their bags from the trunk.

A small camera next to one of several old, rusty metal doors, the kind no one bothers to open or even wonder what lays behind it, followed their every move. Abby walked up real close and started bouncing and waving, knowing someone must be watching.

Moments later the door creaked open, and out walked Ms. Henrietta Lange. She was an astonishingly short woman, a known fact in the world of NCIS. She smiled and walked up to Gibbs.

"Agent Gibbs! How wonderful to see you again." She croaked.

Gibbs nodded in agreement. "Hettie."

Next was Abby, and Hettie knew better than to try and excuse the bone-crushing hug Abby gave her.

"Miss Scuito, it is lovely to see you again! Let's hope this trip goes a bit smoother than last time's!" Hettie wished, remembering Abby's kidnapping a few months ago.

Abby giggled. "I'll try!"

"And who are these three fine people?" Hettie questioned, looking at Tony, McGee, and Ziva, all in a straight line like young school children in the presence of the principle.

"Don't see any fine people 'round here, but if ya mean these three hooligans, ya've got Senior Agent Anthony DiNozzo, Agent Timothy McGee, and Probationary Agent Ziva David." Gibbs introduced.

Hettie rolled her eyes and walked up to Tony, extending a hand. Tony had to bend a bit to return the shake, but managed.

"Hello, Anthony. It is an absolute pleasure to meet you." She smiled warmly.

"Nice to meet you to, and call me Tony."

Hettie nodded and moved to McGee. He too shook her hand.

"Lovely to meet you Timothy. My agents have told me much about you. Apparently you're real savvy with computers?"

McGee's ears got red with embarrassment and he ducked his head a bit. "Yea, I'm pretty good." was his humble response.

Hettie moved down the line to Ziva and took her hand in hers. "My, my aren't you a pretty young lady." She remarked, making Ziva smile. "Pleased to meet you Miss David. I have spoken with your father often, very nice man." Ziva's smiled faltered.

"Nice to meet you too." Ziva smiled, staying away from the topic of her father, which of course, Hettie noticed.

"Well let's get you all inside! It is positively sweltering out here!" Hettie exclaimed. She was certainly right about the weather. Even though it was only May, Los Angeles was going through a heat wave, making the air dry and humid and the naked sun almost unbearable.

Everyone soon agreed, except for Ziva. She liked the heat; it reminded her of Israel, of her few innocent summers at the beach with her aunt and mother.

Hettie opened the door again, and Tony, being his usual charmer self, held it open for everyone. Ziva was the last to walk through. When she reached the threshold, Tony held out his hand.

"M'lady." He said in a faux accent, needlessly helping her up the two-inch step.

Ziva felt even warmer, and was just able to mutter a sarcastic response. Tony walked in behind her and closed the door, and soon all the heat was gone.

The team was in a large lobby, heavily air-conditioned with an almost Mexican-cantina feel to it. To the front of them was a large staircase, leading up to a hallway much like the D.C. headquarters', which also seemed to lead to an M-TAC room.

Hettie didn't take them upstairs, but instead turned to their left, into the OSP bullpen. With the red-brown floors and wood desks, the office space felt much warmer than D.C.'s tasteless blue carpet and gray desks.

They walked through an opening in the bronze room dividers surrounding the bullpen, and were greeted by Team Callen.

Sam Hanna, known for his SEAL past and enormous size, was sitting at his desk, hard at work. His desk was neat and organized; very military.

Agent Kensi Blye was also hard at work at her desk. She was newer to NCIS, and obviously was not the neatest person in the world. She was defiantly attractive, and Tony sure noticed. She was talking to the team shrink, Nate Getz, who was leaning against her desk, observing everyone as usual.

G. Callen was pacing around the room, reading folders, talking to other people, and just thinking. He was all but an NCIS legend, not as well known as Gibbs, but that was _why_ he was so well known. He was one of NCIS best undercover agents: practically a ghost.

Eric Beal, tech-extraordinaire, was easy to spot in the small space. Typing at warp speed at someone's desk in khaki shorts, sandals with socks, a Hawaiian-style shirt, and geeky (yet strangely flattering) glasses, he was hard to miss.

As soon as Hettie entered, everyone stopped. They looked up and smiled at their new guests. There was a pause of silence, and before Hettie could get a word out, Abby rushed forward to distribute her infamous hugs.

Callen was first, nearly dropping a file he was holding. He returned the hug lightly, slightly taken aback.

"Hi, G. Callen!" smiled Abby.

"Hello, Abby Scuito." He too smiled, remembering their strange full-name thing, neither really sure how it started. Hettie smiled and strolled away to her office, knowing introductions may take a while.

Next in line for their Abby Hug was Sam. Abby just barely managed to get her arms around his mass of muscles. After a moment she looked up at him smirking. "Did your muscles get _bigger_?" she asked in awe.

McGee seemed to tense and Tony noticed, not-so-subtly tapping Ziva's arm to get her to look.

Kensi accepted her hug happily next, followed by Eric. If McGee was tense before, he was stiff as a board now.

Abby stepped back, happy with her hugs and, after several seconds of silence, motioned for everyone else to greet each other as well.

Callen looked to Gibbs, and they silently agreed for him to go first.

"Well. I'm Agent G. Callen, and they are…" Callen started pointing to Sam.

"Agent Sam Hanna." Sam said, and looked to Kensi.

"Agent Kensi Blye." She introduced herself with a smile.

It took Eric a moment to realize he was next and he stuttered out, "Uh, Eric Beal…tech…person…" he quickly turned to Nate standing next to him, shifting the attention to him.

"Nate Getz; operational psychologist." He smiled at the team, noticing the Italian man's scrunched up nose, and the Israeli woman's narrowed eyes at the word "psychologist".

The D.C. muttered some hi's, and Gibbs took over.

"I'm Agent Gibbs, and they are…" he looked to Tony.

"Special Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo." He said smiling, mainly at Kensi.

Next was McGee who said, "Well you all know me, so Ziva…"

Ziva smiled and said, "Agent Ziva David."

"Agent?" Sam questioned. "I thought you were Mossad?"

Before Ziva could answer, Tony spoke, "Ah, well our Little Miss America is now a citizen and _Probationary _Agent." He answered for her.

"Yes." Ziva verified, slightly glaring at Tony.

"Well, congratulations on that!" Sam said, everyone soon agreeing.

"So, you're not like an assassin anymore?" Eric asked.

Ziva smirked, noticing his unease. "Not _technically_. I still have the skills; I just don't get to use them as much at NCIS." Eric gulped.

Gibbs gave them a moment before speaking, "Alright people! We have a missing agent to find. We are working together on this so you report to me and Callen. Now, what do we know?"

Eric quickly put something on the plasma and Sam took the lead. "Agent Dominic Vale was driving home one night when his car was ambushed. We have this video, but have no idea who the kidnappers are, or why they took Dom. We suspect they are terrorists, but take a look for yourselves."

Eric started the video, and the team watched as a group of men in all black attacked Dom in his car. They watched him try to fight back, before the video ended.

"We found blood in his car, a lot, but as far as we know, he is still alive. We just have no idea where, or who has him." Kensi finished.

"And your new lead?" Gibbs asked.

"Earlier today, we had a dead marine, now identified as Andrew Thomas, outside the Salt Bay apartments. On his forehead, 5D was carved, which was Dom's apartment. Inside we found a note, saying "We'll be in touch". We believe he was killed just to get our attention, but other agents are looking into that. Our job is to find Dom." Callen explained.

Gibbs nodded, and said, "Some of us should go back to the apartment, to double check, and the rest of us should start coming up with a suspect list."

Callen agreed and said, "Okay, how about Tony, Kenz, and Ziva go to Dom's apartment, and the rest of us will work here?" he offered.

Gibbs nodded and the three agents grabbed their backpacks and headed out.

The two teams watched them go, before starting to work, not knowing of the danger the trio was walking into.

**HOLD YOUR FIRE AND LET ME EXPLAIN!**

**I am so so so so so so so so so so SOOO sorry for not updating! I know I promised they would come quicker, but seriously, October is the busiest month ever! Just this week I had three volleyball games, a volleyball practice, two basketball practices, school, and homework! This chapter has been written in five minute sessions spread across the weeks, so I hope it isn't too bad.**

**I'm not so sure about this chapter, I think I made Gibbs too southern, LOL.**

**Seriously, this time updates should be quicker.**

_**IMPORTANTNESS: This will be Tiva, but I want to know if people want G/Kensi! I have a good idea for that if you do! Also, McAbby?**_

**I would like three reviews before I do the next update, which hopefully will be tonight if I can do it, so PLEASE review! :)**


	5. Rule 12

**I'm back with another chapter! I asked for three reviews, got FOUR reviews, so here's your update! **

**Thanks to…Mary Alice, cotedepablo911, , and vampiemuggle for reviewing! You made me so happy! :D**

**Just so everyone knows, I am pretty sure this will be Tiva, McAbby, and G/Kensi…let's call them Gensi for now. :)**

_**Chapter 4: Rule #12**_

Tony, Ziva, and Kensi stepped into the car garage, Kensi moving forward to a shiny silver car, with Ziva following. Tony, however, stopped dead in his tracks the second he walked through the door. There were so many cars! Back in D.C., all they drove were the black Chargers, but _here_ they had convertibles, jeeps, any car you could imagine, in all different colors.

Kensi was driving, and Ziva was sitting in the passenger's seat. Tony could see they were talking, but he couldn't hear about what. He opened the door to the backseat and their laughter hit him.

"You know," he started as he slid into his seat and closed his door, "it's really not fair."

Ziva waited for a second as the car pulled out of its space before taking the bait. "What is not fair, Tony?" she asked in a voice like she was talking to an incompetent child.

"Are you blind Ziva? Did you not see all those cars? Cuz I sure did! They had a silver convertible!"

"You didn't see the red one?" Ziva asked.

"They had a _red convertible_? Just like—"

"Magnum, I know." Ziva finished for him, rolling her eyes.

"It's not just the cars either! Getting to work undercover all the time. Must be great…" he mused.

"Hmm…I didn't realize you enjoyed undercover work so much, Tony. Especially after Jeanne…"

"Hey! That's low, Zi. And FYI, that means 'for your information' by the way, I wasn't talking about Jeanne. I was talking about when _we_ went undercover together." He said with a wink.

Ziva scrunched up her nose, "Eh, not your best work. We ended up tied to chairs with a crazy assassin." Ziva recalled.

"Heh. Well you seemed to enjoy the sex." He retorted.

Kensi, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, had to speak up now.

"You had _sex_ while _undercover_?" she asked, shocked.

"We were undercover as married assassins." Ziva explained. "And it was _fake_ sex." Ziva said, shooting a glare at Tony.

"If you say so, Sweet Cheeks." Tony called up.

"Whatever, my Little Hairy Butt." Ziva said.

Kensi nearly lost control of the car as she held back a laugh.

"_These two are a riot…they would make a cute couple". _She thought.

It was quiet for a minute before Tony asked, "How about you? Got any crazy undercover stories?"

Kensi thought for a moment before speaking, "Well…there was the time a threw a vase at Callen's head while we were pretending to get a divorce." She said.

Tony and Ziva laughed at that, and Kensi couldn't help thinking again how cute they were together.

"You know, you guys would make a really good couple." She said, gauging their reactions.

They both laughed and Tony said, "We get that a lot, literally."

"Really?" Kensi asked, glad other people could see it too.

"Yeah, we were escorting a witness from Paris and she said the same thing. She was practically planning our wedding. But we're just friends, ain't that right Zee-vah?" Tony faux-joked. Kensi could tell from his expression he was dead serious, hoping upon hope that she felt what he evidently felt.

Ziva tried to laugh normally, but it came out dry and shaky. "Yeah, just friends." She said, hidden sadness in her voice.

Kensi could see the sadness in both of their eyes, and it frustrated her.

"You guys really couldn't see yourselves dating each other?" she prodded.

"Pshh, we couldn't, even if we wanted to; Rule #12." Tony said.

"What's 'Rule #12'"? Kensi asked, noticing how he didn't really answer her question.

"Gibbs' Rule #12: 'Never date a co-worker.' He has like, 50 Rules. He says it's his job to teach them to us." Tony explained.

"_Is that _seriously _what is holding them back?"_ Kensi thought, kind of upset with Agent Gibbs for making that rule. Kensi wasn't exactly the romantic novel type, but these two were just _perfect_ for each other, and they couldn't be together.

"_Like Romeo and Juliet." _Kensi thought, remembering the boring book so many people somehow enjoyed she was forced to read in high school.

Kensi sighed as the pulled up in front of the Salt Bay apartments. "We're here." She announced as she stepped out of the car.

Tony and Ziva climbed out of the silver vehicle, and the three agents walked into the lobby of the Salt Bay apartment building, all three missing the two black SUVs parked across the street.

The lobby was cool, with a few NCIS agents scattered around. They all instantly recognized Kensi, and let her up the elevator.

Surprisingly, there were no agents on the fifth floor, and Tony, Kensi, and Ziva walked silently down to apartment 5D.

The door was locked, and Kensi unlocked it with a key an agent downstairs had provided her with. The door swung open and they stepped inside.

Tony closed the door, and turned to his left to look through the living room, Kensi going with him.

Ziva walked straight, going into the kitchen. Off the kitchen was a hallway, leading to the bathroom and bedroom.

As Ziva carefully inspected the counters and cabinets, a group of men silently crept out from the hallway.

Ziva tensed instantly and swung around. She reached for her gun, but wasn't fast enough, as the man in the front of the pack swung the butt of his gun onto her temple.

Ziva cried out, unconscious before she hit the tile floor.

Kensi and Tony heard her cry, and turned around, guns in hand. One of the men had Ziva in his arms, and the rest had their guns pointed at the two agents.

"Freeze, NCIS! Lower your weapons and put her down!" Tony ordered, obviously worried for his partner.

Before anyone could move an inch, the front door swung open, more men in black piling into the room.

They started swinging and kicking at the two agents, one knocking Tony's gun right out of his hands. Kensi managed to get a shot off, hitting one in the arm, before her head was forcefully whacked against the wall, knocking her unconscious as well.

Tony, distracted by the lifeless Kensi on the floor, had no time to react when one of the men's gun hit him in the head. He fell to the floor, losing awareness quickly, watching as the men picked up Kensi and started out the front door.

Right as his eyes were flickering closed, a few of the men came back, throwing two either dead or unconscious NCIS agents Tony didn't recognize, into the apartment.

"_So that's why there were no guards in the hall…" _was Tony's last thought before he fell into blissful nothingness.

**Next chapter is done, so let's aim for (dare I say) FIVE reviews! I know for a fact that 12 people have this story on alert so please review! :D**


	6. Dent

**OMG! I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so SO sorry for not updating! My internet has not been working, so even though this chapter was done, I couldn't post it! The problem is (hopefully) fixed so it should no longer be a problem. **

**Now let's talk about reviews. Oh. My. God. I think I had some sort of brain aneurism when I opened my e-mail. I asked for five reviews, but I got TEN! Holy muffins, you people are amazing! Huge huge HUGE thanks to all the reviewers! You make me so happy! :D**

_**Chapter 5: Dent**_

Back at NCIS headquarters, Sam, G, Gibbs, and McGee had been working for over an hour on a suspects list. Eric and Abby had been going through evidence and reviewing the video footage. Hettie had been in her office, having lots of work to do, and Nate just wandered from place to place.

As Sam, G, and Gibbs were reviewing their list, McGee spoke, "Has Tony, Ziva, or Kensi called anyone yet?" he asked.

All three men shook their heads and Sam looked at his watch. "They've been gone over an hour, and it's only a fifteen minute drive. Should we call them?"

Gibbs nodded and McGee whipped out his cell phone. He pressed a few buttons, held the phone up to his ear, waited for a while, before he sighed. "Tony's not answering; I'll try Ziva."

He pressed a few more buttons, again held the phone up to his ear, waited, and sighed again. "Neither is Ziva. Callen, can you try Kensi?"

Callen nodded, took out his phone, went to his Speed Dial to #1, and called Kensi's phone. After a few moments of ringing, he heard her voice telling him to leave a message. He shared a look with Gibbs. "Something isn't right." He said.

Gibbs nodded. "Let's go the apartments."

The four agents headed to the car garage after alerting Hettie, chose a simple black car, and headed for the Salt Bay apartments complex.

The ride was silent, nobody even bothering to turn on the radio. Something was _seriously _wrong; Gibbs' Gut could feel it.

They pulled up to the curb, next to a shiny silver car. "That's a car from our garage." Sam said.

The quartet walked into the lobby and Callen looked around until he spotted an NCIS agent.

"Hey, Jim!" he called out to an agent standing near the elevator.

"Hey, Callen!" Jim called back. Callen, Sam, Gibbs, and McGee walked over to Jim, and Callen asked, "Was Kensi here before?"

"Yeah, over an hour ago. She was with two other agents, but I'd never seen em' before. A guy with blondish-brown hair, and a woman, real pretty, with dark brown hair. They were going up to Agent Vale's apartment."

"Thanks, Jim. Can we go up too?" Callen asked.

"Yeah, sure." The foursome got in the lift and went up to the fifth floor. They walked down to the fourth apartment, 5D, and noticing the door cracked open, drew their guns.

Callen whispered, "One…two…three…" and with a nod at Sam, he pushed the door open.

Callen stepped into the apartment first, nearly falling over two forms in front of the door.

Gibbs, McGee, and Sam went in as well, Gibbs and Sam checking for pulses.

Callen turned around and saw another body in the living room. He ran over, and flipped the body over, so they are face-up. Instantly he recognizes Tony and calls out, "Gibbs I found Tony!"

He checks for a pulse, and finding one, examines the wound on the top of the agent's head. It was no longer bleeding, but bright red blood was soaked through his hair.

"McGee, call an ambulance!" Gibbs calls out. Callen turns around and sees that one of the other agents looked like he was waking up, but the other was still out. Gibbs is standing over them, and Sam is no longer in the room. McGee is talking into his cell phone, and tells Gibbs an ambulance will be there in five minutes.

Sam comes in from the hallway, and looks at Callen and Gibbs and says, "There's no sign of Ziva or Kensi anywhere."

Callen looks at the wall, and noticing a dent in it, gets closer. It was a roundish shape; most likely somebody's head had been rammed into it. There was some blood smeared in the dent and around the dent are cracks. Pulling a pair of gloves out of his pocket, he picks out a piece of curly dark hair from a crack.

"This could be either Kenz's or Ziva's." He muses, holding it up for the other's to see.

"No, it's Kensi's. Ziva straightened her hair today."

"Alright, so they are ambushed after the other agents in the hall are taken out. Tony and Kensi are in the living room, where Kensi's head is hit into the wall, most likely knocking her out. She is taken, and Tony is knocked out with what I am assuming is a gun." Callen says, walking around the room, mapping out the scene.

"Ok, but what about Ziva? If there was a fight, I doubt she'd go down easy." McGee said.

"Unless they were surprised." Sam says.

"So Tony and Kensi are in the living room, so Ziva goes…where?" All four men walk around, and when he enters the kitchen, Gibbs calls out, "Got blood in the kitchen!"

The agents head for the kitchen, and Callen speaks again. "So Ziva is in the kitchen when somebody comes from," he looks around and chooses the only place they could have come from, "the hallway. They must have gotten up the fire escape, into Dom's bedroom, and they knock Ziva out in the kitchen."

"Tony and Kensi see what happens, when more people come from the outside hallway and take them out." Gibbs continues.

"They take Kensi and Ziva, and bring the agents from the hall in here." McGee finishes.

"Yeah, that makes sense, but how do they get out? They can't exactly fly and I think the agents downstairs would notice two unconscious agents being dragged outside the front door." Sam questions.

Right then, the front door opens, and four paramedics come in with three stretchers. Two go to the two unknown agents by the door and load them onto stretchers and start wheeling them out. The other two had just gotten DiNozzo on his stretcher, when a groan of pain came from the agent.

Immediately, Callen and Gibbs rush over to Tony.

"DiNozzo? Hey! DiNozzo!" Gibbs barks.

Tony groans again and grumbles, "Boss?"

"Tony, what happened? Where are Kensi and Ziva?"

Tony cracks open his eyes and it takes him a moment to remember, but when he does his eyes go wide and he tries to sit up, just to be pushed back down by the paramedics.

"Boss! These guys in black came! Over a dozen from the hall a-and the outside! They took Ziva and Kensi!" he mumbled.

He groaned again, and despite Gibbs telling him not to, he falls back into unconsciousness. Right away the paramedics are rushing him to the elevator, leaving Gibbs, McGee, Sam, and Callen alone in the apartment.

"Looks like we were right." Callen says.

"Yeah, whoever took Dom, most likely just took Kensi and Ziva as well." Sam says.

Callen sighs, "We have to go back to HQ. We're no longer missing just one agent; but three."

**Review! :D (Let's try to do ten again!)**


	7. Not Your Fault

**First things first…I'm so sorry for taking so long to update…so many things have happened that have stopped me from writing and updating…my Uncle Kevin dropped a glass dish of cranberry sauce on my foot on Thanksgiving breaking two of my toes, thanks Uncle Kev…and then I had schoolwork and basketball just started (had to miss a few games because of my toes)…and I had some exams just last week…yea it's been crazy… so huge thanks to all the reviewers! Sorry this took so long and hopefully with Christmas break coming up I'll have time to write!**

**Happy belated Hanukkah! Hope everyone is having a safe and fun holiday season!**

**Here's the chapter!**

_**Chapter 6: Not Your Fault**_

Sam, Callen, Gibbs, and McGee watched the two ambulances pull away from the apartment complex, sirens blaring.

In silence, the four men got back in their car and drove to the hospital. Even with Gibbs driving, they didn't get there until well after the ambulances had arrived.

The quartet stormed into the hospital, Callen and Gibbs walking with a purpose up to the front desk, intent on getting an update on DiNozzo and the other two agents, identified as Agents Phil Sweeney and Patrick Wilson.

Sam and McGee stood back against the doorway, watching their mentors argue with the nurse in charge.

Neither was really sure what to do. Callen had called Hettie during the ride over, Abby and Eric already working on evidence, security tapes, and everything else to help.

So they just stood there in silence, anxiously awaiting the return of their superiors.

Thankfully, they did not need to wait more than a few minutes before G and Gibbs turned away from the head nurse and walked back in their direction.

"All three are fine. They want to keep Agents Sweeney and Wilson overnight for observation, but Tony is free to go with only a slight concussion. He should be out in a minute. Sweeney's wife is on her way and Wilson's girlfriend is driving here from San Diego to see him, so once DiNozzo is ready, we'll go." Gibbs informed the two.

Sam and McGee nodded and seconds later, a somber Tony was seen walking down the hall to them. He reached them and in silence, Callen held the door open for them and they all stepped out into the blistering heat and towards the car.

The distance between the hospital and headquarters was short and they made it in minutes. Gibbs, McGee, Tony, and Callen stepped out of the car and towards the metal door, while Sam pulled out of the alley and around to the back entrance to the car garage.

The drastic change in air temperature barely registered to the foursome as they stepped in the OSP headquarters, and nobody could even take a breath before Abby collided with Tony. She would have knocked him straight to the ground if Gibbs and McGee hadn't caught him.

"Tony! Ohmygod! I've been so worried! Thank God you're alright! Did you hear about Kensi and Ziva? Oh, of course you have! Stupid me, you were there! You have to find them guys." She said, now speaking to the group, "We can't lose anybody else. I can't take it." She sobbed, switching Tony as Abby-Hug victim for McGee, crying into this shirt.

"We'll get them back, Abs." Gibbs said, planting a kiss on her head and leading Tony over to the squad room.

He guided Tony into one of the desk chairs and stood in front of him. By now Hettie had heard of their arrival and was standing a few feet away with Callen and Sam.

"DiNozzo, what happened?" he asked gently, yet demanding an answer.

Tony sighed, and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Uh…I can't really remember everything, Boss. I was hit pretty hard…" he muttered, rubbing his head where he was hit.

"Well what do you remember, DiNozzo?"

"Uh…we went to Dom's apartment…uh I think Ziva was in the kitchen. Kensi and I were looking at…something and then we heard Ziva scream. She was out and there were these guys in black just _everywhere_. Next thing I know, Kensi and Ziva are being carried out the door, I'm on the floor bleeding from my head." Tony paused and sighed, looking down. "I should have done something more to save Ziva…and Kensi. Sorry, Boss."

Gibbs lightly tapped Tony on the back of the head. "This was not your fault, DiNozzo." He said, clearly sure of it. When Tony didn't say anything he snapped his fingers in front of him. He waited for Tony to be staring him in the eye before saying, "This isn't your fault, Tony."

Tony nodded and slouched back in his chair. Gibbs turned to the two teams around him and went into full-investigator mode.

"Abby and Eric, I want you to go through all the evidence_._ McGee and Sam, go through the security tapes of Dom's building. One of these guys had to have been seen."

Everyone nodded in affirmation of their tasks and stared at Gibbs.

Gibbs threw his hands to his sides. "Well? Go!"

Everyone scurried to their jobs while Gibbs and G started working on the computer next to the desk Tony was sitting at.

"What do you want me to do, Boss?"

Gibbs looked up from the computer, then back. "Anything you think that could help us get back our girls."

"And Dom." Callen interjected.

Gibbs had a ghost of a smile on his face.

"And Dom."

**Kind of a short, filler chapter. Stuff starts heating up in the next few chapters! Review! :)**


	8. The Unanswered Question

**Hellooo people! I said I would update this week! Again, I am sorry for the atrocious updating schedule, but I think I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'll do my best to update as quickly as possible!**

**Thank you to all the lovely reviews. I loved every single one, and I thank you for your kind words and advice. I hope you enjoy! :)**

_**Chapter 7: The Unanswered Question**_

Both teams spent the next two hours hard at work. Abby and Eric successfully went through all the evidence, finding nothing. There was a not a single fingerprint or hair left behind by the kidnappers. They were pros.

Or so the teams thought. That was until McGee and Sam called everyone over to their computers.

As soon as everyone was settled, McGee began his usual tech-harangue. After several minutes of blank stares and wandering minds as McGee babbled on, Gibbs finally said.

"Would you just get on with it, McGee?"

"Right, Boss…uh sorry. Okay, so Sam and I were looking through the security tapes of Dom's apartment building, just to discover that, naturally, they were all erased during the time of the kidnapping."

"So, how exactly does that help us?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, after unsuccessfully trying to find anything useful on the apartment footage, I tried looking around to see if any cameras from any surrounding buildings caught anything."

"And did they?" Callen asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, they did. An office supply shop in the complex next to the apartments likes to keep a security camera in the alley between it and the apartments ever since a break-in they had two years ago. For being pros, they weren't very professional. They didn't even think of checking for other local cameras. Now, the resolution is kind of blurry but we found this."

McGee clicked a couple of keys on his keyboard and a video popped up. After pressing play, both teams could see a hazy image of three black SUVs sauntering into the alley. They came to a stop and the back doors opened, releasing many a man from each vehicle. Gibbs was able to count twenty-eight men, including the three men driving the cars.

The other twenty-five men are seen silently sneaking up the fire escape to the fifth floor, one by one slipping into Dom's bedroom window.

Here, McGee paused it and Sam spoke.

"We think that half the men stayed in the bedroom while the other half went through the apartment and into the hallway where they took out Agents Sweeney and Wilson. Once they were out, they probably turned the corner in the hall and hid the bodies and waited."

Everyone silently absorbed this new information before Callen thought of something.

"Wait, why were they back at his apartment anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they have Dom. Why go to his apartment? What were they doing there?"

Everyone sat stunned, never haven thought of why they were there. Were they hiding evidence? Creating false evidence? Did they leave something behind? Or were they trying to find something?

Nobody knew the answers to these questions. Gibbs looked to McGee and told him to continue the tape.

It started up again, but nothing was happening on the screen. The cars were parked in the alley, and you could see birds flying in the sky, but the men never made another appearance.

McGee started fast-forwarding the tape, and it wasn't for another ten minutes until you could see one of the men. Not one, but three. They climbed back out the window, one holding a black sack in their arms. The three men carried it down the fire escape and into one of the SUVs, before climbing back up the escape and into the apartment.

Nothing happened again, until McGee fast-forwarded the tape. Fifteen minutes after the men had disappeared back in the window, more men started climbing back out.

About ten climbed out the window empty-handed, until you could see a body being passed through the window to the waiting men. McGee pressed a few keys, and the camera zoomed in on their face. Through the muggy clarity of the cheap security camera, both teams could still easily identify Ziva. She had blood in her hair and it was visible on her shirt as well. She was obviously out cold, being passed lifelessly from person to person, down the fire escape and into one of the SUVs.

As Ziva's body reached the SUV, another body was seen being passed through the window. This time, it was obviously Kensi's. She too was passed like a ragdoll down the escape and to the SUV, the unit of men in her wake. As soon as everyone was in a car, they slowly crept out of the alley, turning left into the busy streets of Los Angeles.

It was silent for a minute before Tony asked, "Can you see the license plates on the cars, Probie?"

McGee sadly shook his head. "No, the image is way too fuzzy, even with clearing it up with the best software we have, it's still too blurry."

"How about following the cars through the streets using street security cameras like you did with me when my car blew up?" Tony tried, desperate to find his partner.

Eric, Sam, and Callen looked baffled at the memory, but let it pass.

McGee sighed and shook his head again.

"There were too many cars. Without knowing the license plates, it's very hard to follow a plain, black SUV in all the city traffic. You had a vintage blue Mustang, very easy to track. Not so much with average black SUVs, there's just too many of them."

The room was silent once more, both teams knowing they had reached somewhat of a dead-end.

At last Tony clasped a hand on McGee's shoulder and said. "It was a nice try, Probie, even if we didn't get anything out of it."

"Oh, we got something out of it." Gibbs contradicted.

"What?"

"The sack. The men carried out a sack. They weren't there to take Ziva and Kensi; they had no way of knowing you would be there. They were there to find something, and they obviously found it. You just got there before they could make an escape."

Sam squinted at the screen, thinking a thousand thoughts a second.

"What were they looking for?"

Nobody answered. Nobody knew.

**Fin. For now. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Please review if you can! :)**


	9. Abby's Always Right

**I realize this chapter is horridly overdue, and I really have no excuse besides pure procrastination and laziness. I am really sorry for the wait, but expect at least one more update on this glorious, long, President's Day weekend. **

**Toss me a review if you can, and please enjoy! **

_*Previously on NCIS and NCIS: L.A.*_

_The room was silent once more, both teams knowing they had reached somewhat of a dead-end._

_At last Tony clasped a hand on McGee's shoulder and said. "It was a nice try, Probie, even if we didn't get anything out of it."_

"_Oh, we got something out of it." Gibbs contradicted._

"_What?"_

"_The sack. The men carried out a sack. They weren't there to take Ziva and Kensi; they had no way of knowing you would be there. They were there to find something, and they obviously found it. You just got there before they could make an escape."_

_Sam squinted at the screen, thinking a thousand thoughts a second._

"_What were they looking for?"_

_Nobody answered. Nobody knew._

_**Chapter 8: Abby's Always Right**_

"Eric! Get the pictures from the original crime scene up!" Gibbs hollered, pissed at just about everything, and everyone, in his sight.

Immediately, Eric's fingers were flying across his keyboard, opening files, and putting the appropriate pictures up on the screen for everyone to see. Once they were up, Gibbs instructed Eric to put the newest pictures from after the kidnapping up. Eric complied, scared of Gibbs, not daring to defy him.

Sam, Callen, Tony, McGee, and Abby shared looks, having no idea what Gibbs was doing. Gibbs however was staring at the monitor as pictures from the original crime scene and the newest crime scene flew across the screen.

Several moments passed before Gibbs spotted what he was looking for.

"Stop it. Go back a few."

Eric submitted to the demand, going back through the last few images at a much slower pace. As the screen was filled with two pictures of the throw rug resting on the wooden floors before Dom's sofa, Gibbs commanded Eric to stop again.

"There, do you see it?" He asked the group of agents, plus Abby, who had been standing off to the side.

"See what, Gibbs?" asked Abby.

"The rugs, Abs." Gibbs pointed to the pictures to emphasize his point. "The rug moved a couple of inches some time between the pictures being taken."

No one seemed to understand the significance of the rug for several moments, before a light bulb went off in Abby's raven-haired head.

"The rugs! Way to go Boss-Man!" she exclaimed punching him excitedly in the arm, staring happily at the screen.

Several instances passed by before Tony called out in an exasperated voice, "Can someone please fill the rest of us in?"

Immediately, Abby started speaking as if she was presenting evidence back in her lab in D.C. "As you can see, the rug moved quite a bit somewhere between the pictures taken after Dom's kidnapping, and Ziva's and Kensi's. Does everyone accept that as a fact?"

Everyone nodded their heads and murmured affirmations. That much was obvious.

"Now, it is also safe to say that Dom's kidnappers went back to his place to get something they had left there, ergo the sack they carried out in the video. Does everyone accept the creepy evil bad men went back to get something in Dom's apartment as a fact?"

Again, everyone agreed with her.

Abby allowed herself a small smile before continuing, "Gibbs, with his keen, yet slightly questioned, eye-sight spotted the change in the rug's location as the only major change in the apartment. Dom's apartment has wooden floors, and as you all know, wooden floors are made of individual floorboards, well unless they are those fake wooden floors. You know the kind that has pieces of the floor together and you just snap them in place? Supposedly they are way cheaper than real wood floors and easier to clean, but personally I find that original—"

"Abby!" Gibbs boomed, snapping Abby out of her ramble and getting her back on track.

"Right, sorry. Okay, so the individual floorboards can be pulled up and stuff can be stashed underneath. You've all seen the movies. Not now, Tony." Abby warned, swiveling to face Tony who already had his mouth open, titles of movies pertaining to their current predicament just ready to spill out. Tony closed his mouth and motioned with his hands that the floor was all hers.

Abby turned to address the rest of the group and continued, "So me and the Boss-Man are both thinking, yes I know he's thinking the same thing, that whoever took Dom, went back to his apartment to get something they stashed below those floorboards under the rug, and were too sloppy to fix it properly. I bet if you guys go back there, those boards will come right up!" Abby smiled.

"No offense Abs, but there were agents and investigators swarming that apartment. Don't you think it's more likely one of them moved the carpet?" Tony asked, skeptical about the idea of their supposed-pro kidnappers not thinking to put the carpet back exactly where they found it.

"Well I guess we'll find out when McGee and Sam go check it out, won't we?" Abby defended, plopping her hands on her hips.

McGee and Sam shared looks, but didn't move.

"You heard her. Go check it out." Gibbs ordered, backing Abby up, making her smile.

McGee and Sam automatically grabbed their coats and headed out of the tech-room, sending mock-glares at Abby who waved sweetly back.

Sam and McGee walked in silence to the car, Sam getting into the driver's seat, and McGee in the passenger's seat.

Sam started the car and they smoothly slid out of their parking space and into the busy street. They drove for several minutes in complete silence before McGee spoke, "Do you think they're still alive, Dom, Kensi, and Ziva?"

Sam looked a bit startled at the sudden question but knew his answer quickly, having thought about this quite a bit that day. "Kensi and Ziva? Definitely. Kensi may look like just a pretty girl, but she packs a pretty hard punch."

McGee smirked and had to agree with Sam. "Yeah, that's pretty much true for Ziva too."

It was silent in the car for several moments, each thinking of their respective teammates, whom they each thought more of as sisters than coworkers.

"What do you think about Dom? Do you think he's still alive?"

Sam sighed, not sure what to think about Dom. "Well, he's been missing much longer than Kenz or Ziva, but I think it's possible he is. I just wish we had some idea of who took them. I mean, Kensi and Dom were both newbies, who would have a grudge against them?"

"Yeah, I guess Ziva would have a few more enemies than them, but Dom was the target, not her." McGee sat back in the comfortable leather seat of the car. Why did Ziva have to be kidnapped? They just got her back a few months ago from her summer imprisonment, and now someone else had snatched her from them. He knew it was ridiculous, that Ziva could take care of herself, and then some, but he felt the need to protect her. She was like a little sister to him, and not to be sexist, but she was also the only girl on the team. With their track-record with female coworkers, he was pretty sure that everyone on Team Gibbs felt a certain protectiveness to her, and Abby for that matter.

McGee thought about the events leading up to Ziva's captivity during the summer, about Michael Rivkin, Tony, her own father. McGee didn't know much about Ziva's family, only about her half-brother Ari and her father, but he could tell the David family wasn't exactly what you would call stable. It seemed like half the time it was Ziva's father getting her into the trouble she always seemed to be in.

McGee was pulled out of his thoughts as the car suddenly stopped outside of Dom's apartment building, and it took him a moment to remember where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. He quickly hopped out of the car, jogging a bit to catch up with Sam who was already halfway to the door.

He and Sam walked in silence to the elevator, only muttering a hello to Jim who was still manning the lift. They stepped into the tiny, empty box and started up to Dom's floor in silence. It was then that McGee realized he really liked Sam, his loyalty, trustworthiness, and dedication to the job. He hoped that he would stay friends with him, and all of the L.A. team after this ordeal was over, when they headed back to D.C. with Ziva, because he just knew they would get Ziva back.

The elevator door opened with a ding, reminding him so much of home, and they walked slowly to Dom's door. It was a nice sign to see all the agents guarding the floor, each one alert and conscious.

After flashing their badges, they were allowed into the apartment. Within the high-rise, several agents were standing guard throughout the space. Sam went straight towards the couch, while McGee's eyes subconsciously landed on a child's drawing on Dom's refrigerator.

For a reason not completely known to him, McGee felt an impulse to look at the picture. It was obviously done by a young child, with multi-colored shapes and lines flung haphazardly across the white paper. Amidst the scribble, scrawled in crayon was "Uncle Dom". It kind of broke McGee's heart. Dom had a brother or a sister, with a niece or nephew who obviously loved him dearly, and he was taken from them. He felt a stronger urge to save Dom and the others, not just for himself, but for the child who drew the picture hanging on the fridge.

McGee, slightly reluctant, turned away from the picture and walked over to Sam, who had just finished putting on latex gloves and was carefully sliding the carpet over. McGee crouched down and watched as Sam probed around the floorboards. Several moments passed, and McGee started to think that Abby might just have been wrong. As soon as this thought materialized in his mind however, one of the floorboards gave and Sam pulled it up.

Underneath, there was a cavity, not too large, but big enough to store something you didn't want people to find; money, drugs, and maybe even some small weapons. Instead of any of those things however, there was just a small piece of white paper, similar to the paper found at the original scene of Dom's kidnapping that had warned the Los Angeles team that they would be in touch with Dom's kidnappers.

Sam reached a latex-covered hand into the opening, carefully lifting the folded paper out and into the light. He carefully unfurled the paper and turned the paper so McGee could read the message as well.

It had a Skype username, "SillyAgents101", and a password, "password". Underneath, it had a picture of a clock, the hands showing it to be 12:30 P.M.

McGee and Sam looked at one another, then down to their watches on their wrists. Noon was one hour from now. The kidnappers were going to contact them in one hour.

"We gotta get back to HQ." Sam muttered. McGee didn't even answer as both men raced back to the car and started speeding back to headquarters. They made it back in record time and marched straight upstairs. Not much had changed since when they left. Everyone was either going through files or working on computers.

"We've got something!" Sam called out to the room full of people. All heads turned to look at them, and Hettie, as if on cue, walked in.

"Well don't be rude and make us wait, Mr. Hanna. Please, do spit it out." She drawled.

McGee, however, spoke up instead. "Abby was right."

"Oh Timmy, when aren't I?" Abby boasted from the computer she was working on.

Before they started getting themselves off topic, Sam spoke. "Underneath the floor was a hole, where something probably was stashed. However, whatever was there is gone now and this was left in its place." He finished, handing the note to Hettie, who in turn read the information out loud.

As if on autopilot, Eric brought up Skype on the big screen, logging onto their premade account. Everyone gathered around the screen and studied the display. They already had someone under their "Friends" list. The username was "Hot_in_Black". It seemed their hostage takers had a sense of humor, albeit a bit sick.

The clock on the bottom right corner of the screen read 11:25. Now, they just had to wait.

**Any ideas on who took them? Did you have a favorite part or line? Do you have any problems or suggestions? Review if you can! They are much cherished and appreciated, and feed my muse. :)**


	10. Showtime

_**Chapter 9: Showtime**_

The first thing Ziva noticed was the pain.

There was a dull, thudding pain in the back of her head, an achy, pulling pain on her restrained wrists, and a blossoming pain all over her body, most likely bruises slowly forming.

Ziva stayed focused on the pain for several seconds, utterly confused as to why it was there. She tried thinking back, thinking back to the last thing she had done, but nothing came. Panic set in for a moment, a paralyzing terror of what had happened, of the unknown.

Ziva's body automatically jumped in surprise at a strange, deep sound to her left, bringing along a fresh wave of intense aching through her petite body. She felt her muscles tense and her eyes squeeze tighter closed. It was then she realized her eyes _were_ closed and she automatically sprung them open.

Her brown orbs frantically scanned her surroundings, and an unwelcomed feeling of dread settled in her heart. For several, erratic heartbeats, she was sure she was back _there_. That she was back in that disgusting place full of pain, hatred, and the cause of her nightmares. The place that caused her new, ever-present fears and moments of panic she kept so well hidden from her team.

Through the fear, it took her mind a great deal longer to realize that this was definitely _not _Somalia. For one thing, this room was _much_ bigger. Her cells in Somalia, they changed locations and cells quite frequently, were usually no bigger than seven feet long and seven feet wide. This room, however, was probably about fifteen feet long and ten feet wide. Also, this room was more or less well lighted. Instead of the small amount of light coming through the tiny windows of her cells in Somalia, this room had three somewhat modern lights attached to the ceiling. This lighting allowed her to see another difference between this place, a place she still hadn't recognized, and Somalia.

Here, the door was made of a tough, shiny, and most likely bulletproof material, most likely some strange combination of metals. The doorknob was also made of metal, and had a keyhole directly beneath it. In Somalia, all the doors were made of thick wood, with wooden bars sliding across the outside as a lock.

Once Ziva was mildly pleased with her assessment of her surroundings, or at least, what she could see directly in front of her, she began an evaluation of her physical predicament. With a tug of her hands, she concluded her hands were indeed bound. The unique feeling of the material informed her that it was some extremely tough rope. Whoever had restrained her was an expert, each wrist secured to the backing of a wooden chair with their own string of rope. Looking down she discovered each ankle was restrained in a similar fashion, one ankle attached to one leg of the chair, the other ankle secured to the other.

Ziva pulled several times on her restraints, only receiving a squeaking sound from the old chair in return. Ziva slumped her shoulders and closed her eyes, allowing her emotional dam to break down, and the fear and hopelessness wash over her.

She had been rescued the previous summer from a similar imprisonment, and she knew the odds of another safe escape were slim. If only she could _remember_ how she got here!

Her sadness and despair were soon replaced with anger and she harshly pulled against the ropes securing her to the chair. With each ferocious tug a high-pitched _Squeak! _would fill the air.

Adrenaline started to pump vigorously through her veins and she pulled harder and harder.

The room was filled with a harmony of squeaks, and Ziva abruptly stopped her wrestle with the ropes as a deep noise rumbled again to her left. She had completely forgotten about the sound before!

Ziva snapped her head to the left, knowing that if it were an attacker, she had absolutely no way of defending herself.

However, there was no attacker, not even a slight threat. Before Ziva's eyes, not ten feet away, Kensi sat hunched in an old wooden chair, her wrists and ankles bound in the same fashion as Ziva's.

Kensi let out another moan, and the memories hit Ziva like a brick wall. Memories of their trip to Los Angeles and of the men attacking her, Kensi, and Tony in Dom's apartment flooded her mind. It was obvious the men had taken her and Kensi, _but what about Tony?_

Ziva's heart seemed to stop. Questions raced through her mind like a movie on fast-forward. Appropriate, given the circumstances.

Did they have Tony, too?

Why weren't they keeping him with them?

And the worse and most horrifying question of all: _Was it because he was already dead?_

Ziva shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts, slightly regretting it as her stomach churned from the pain the movement caused.

Ziva reached deep inside herself, to the Mossad training she knew would always be with her. She rebuilt her emotional dam in record time, forcing herself to forget Tony for the moment, no matter how impossible it seemed to be. Right now, it was just Kensi and herself.

It was obvious that Kensi was slowly coming around, but Ziva feared not fast enough.

"Kensi!" she whispered, wishing she could reach out a hand to shake the other woman awake.

With no response, she whispered again, "Kensi!"

This go-round, Kensi awarded her with another moan, and her eyelids started to flutter.

With just a little more volume, Ziva whispered one last time, "Kensi!", and the woman's eyes shot open.

Her head shot up as well, and her eyes atomically made contact with Ziva's.

She just stared at Ziva for a moment as she got her bearings. "What happened?" she eventually whispered.

Ziva sighed. "I am not sure. I believe we were kidnapped in Dom's apartment. Most likely Tony was taken as well, but I have not seen him."

Kensi nodded slightly, wary of the throbbing in her head from her little encounter with the wall of Dom's living room.

"How long have we been here?" Kensi asked.

Ziva thought over this question carefully before answering. "I…am not sure. I have been awake for about ten minutes, but before that we could have been out for an hour or ten. It is hard to tell with no windows in here."

Kensi took in what Ziva said before looking around their surroundings. Ziva was right; there were no windows whatsoever. There were only the walls, the floor, the door, and the three lights above them.

Kensi absentmindedly noticed a couple of electrical sockets scattered throughout the room before locking eyes with Ziva once more.

"Do you think the others know we're missing and are looking for us?"

Ziva wasn't sure how to respond. She knew that wasn't all she wanted to know. What she really was asking was, will we be found, or will we die? And for that question, Ziva had no answer.

Ziva stared at Kensi a moment. She was very young. By no means was Ziva old, she wasn't even thirty, but Kensi was still younger. In age, yes, but also in spirit. Even though Kensi was an NCIS agent and has seen many a horror, she couldn't even imagine what Ziva had seen and been through.

It was right then that Ziva decided that, if it came down to it, she would die for Kensi, or any member of the team for that matter.

Ziva had said it last summer, and she meant it. She was prepared to die. Being rescued hardly changed that. She deserved to die. She didn't deserve a second chance with the offenses she had committed, offenses as severe as were done to her. Her acts, however, had been covered up as heroic deeds for her country and people by her father at the time she had committed them. Even if she didn't fully realize what she was doing because of her blinding wish to please her father, she still believed she deserved to suffer in hell for what she had done, if you believed in that sort of thing.

She deserved to die, and would gladly do so to save someone she cared about.

Kensi continued to stare at Ziva, waiting for an answer.

Ziva managed a weak smile before assuring Kensi. "Of course they are looking for us."

Before either of them could say another word, heavy footsteps could be heard walking towards the door to their cell. Kensi and Ziva listened as someone rattled a ring of keys just outside the door, searching for the right one. Moments later, both women heard a click and the knob on the door slowly turned.

When the door swung open, a burly man dressed in black strolled in, a black ski mask covering his features. He got right into Ziva's face, forcing her to inhale the foul stench of his breath and sweat.

"We're going to put on a little show, my ladies." He slurred, English obviously not his first language. As he caressed Ziva's face with his slimy hand, Ziva's mind was hard at work. She knew his accent. This man was an Iraqi.

The nameless Iraqi man released Ziva's face as two men rolled in a simple metal table, and a third and fourth came in carrying a laptop with a webcam and a metal toolbox.

The Iraqi man watched as the four other men silently set up the equipment. When everything seemed to be in order, the laptop open on the table with the screen facing Ziva and Kensi, a wire running behind the table and into one of the sockets spotted by Kensi, and the toolbox stashed underneath the table, the third and fourth men left. The other two stood in front of the door as if guarding it.

Ziva watched as the Iraqi man opened up Skype and signed in, the font too tiny for her to see. As his account loaded and he sent a video request to a pre-added friend, he turned around and smiled creepily at Kensi and Ziva.

"Smile pretty girls. It's showtime."


	11. Tick Tock

_**Chapter 10: Tick Tock…**_

Tensions were high in the office. It was now 12:25, only five more minutes until the men who took Ziva and Kensi would make contact with them. For the past hour, both teams agonizingly counted down the minutes, the seconds, until the crucial first call would be made or, in this case, the crucial first Skype video request.

McGee and Eric sat at the computer monitors, ready to isolate the internet access being used and, hopefully, get the location of where Kensi and Ziva were being kept.

Abby currently had her arms wrapped tight around McGee's upper body, and seemed to have no intention of letting go anytime soon.

Hettie, at the moment, was in her office making endless phone calls to Director Vance, and those higher up the government ladder.

Everyone else, Gibbs, Tony, Sam, and Callen, stood staring at the monitor. Tony glanced at the clock. It was 12:29. One more minute.

Tony started to count down in his head, 60…59…58…57…56…55…

As he reached 17, the sound of a door opening alerted them that their "friend" has signed on.

"He's on! Get tracking over there!" Gibbs called.

Seconds later, a video request popped up on the screen and Eric immediately accepted.

Everyone in the room held their breath as the video was slowly connected. Suddenly, a blank screen popped up. After several seconds of fuzzy connection, the screen cleared.

The video quality wasn't what you would call stellar, but it was good enough to see Ziva on the left of the screen tied to a chair, dried blood on her shirt and neck. On the right side of the screen Kensi was pretty much in the same state. In-between them one of the men, most likely the leader, was staring at the screen, his face covered in a black ski mask.

The man smiled at them, before opening his arms in greeting.

"Welcome, Special Agents. I assume you have some computer geeks tracking this?" The man had a well hidden accent, only detectible to finely tuned ears of experience agents. English definitely was not his first language.

Gibbs and Callen just stared at the screen, two steely blue stares.

The man just chuckled and nodded. "I thought so. It's so cute that you think you can just track me. Simply adorable. But I assume you don't want to just chitchat do you?"

"Was never really much of a talker...you seemed to have forgotten to introduce yourself." Gibbs answered.

"I didn't forget, Agent Gibbs, Callen, Hanna, and McGee." He nodded to each agent as he said their name. He'd done his research, that's for sure.

"What the hell do you want?" Gibbs asked his. Tony could've sworn he saw steam come out of his boss's ears.

Tony studied the screen, more specifically Ziva. While Kensi stared straight ahead, Ziva kept glancing at Kensi as if trying to get her attention.

"All I want is for five of my men released from prison. You have twenty-four hours until one dies. I'm thinking…" he strode over to Kensi and caressed her cheek. "This one will go first."

Tony saw Ziva become very still before speaking, "The United States does not negotiate with terrorists."

The man moved faster than the team could follow and slapped Ziva, hard, across the face.

"You will not speak unless spoken to, Jew." His voice was low and to be honest, completely terrifying.

He spat on Ziva, before turning back to the screen, his anger completely diminished. This scared Tony. Ziva wasn't exactly what you would call submissive, and he was sure Kensi wasn't either. This man had an extremely short, extremely violent temper that Tony was sure could do a lot of harm if Ziva and Kensi didn't behave.

Tony continued to watch Ziva again, and he swore he saw her arms moving almost as if…that was it! Ziva was untying her hands.

He allowed a small smirk to grace his laps for a moment.

"_That's our Ziva." _He thought.

That must also be why she was trying to get Kensi's attention. She wanted her to untie herself as well.

"Besides, who ever said I was a terrorist?" the man asked.

Trying to buy Ziva more time and keep the man's attention away from her, Tony piped up.

"Aren't you?"

The man smiled, and slowly let out a small chuckle as if remembering a fond memory. "Yes…I suppose I am." He smiled again.

Tony saw Ziva still working on her ropes, vainly trying to gain Kensi's attention.

"My official title really has nothing to do with this video session. I need my five men released in twenty-four hours, or Ms. Blye here dies." He rattled off the names of the five men and the prisons they were kept in.

Tony locked eyes with Ziva as she struggled. For several moments they just stared at each other until the man's voice forced Tony to look at him.

"I will contact you again in two hour's time to check on your progress. The clock is ticking, Special Agents. You better hurry." The man let out an evil, spine shivering laugh.

"Tick tock…tick tock….tick tock…"


	12. A Pu Pu Platter of Public Enemies

_*Previously on NCIS and NCIS: L.A.*_

"_I will contact you again in two hour's time to check on your progress. The clock is ticking, Special Agents. You better hurry." The man let out an evil, spine shivering laugh._

"_Tick tock…tick tock….tick tock…"_

_**Chapter 11: Pu Pu Platter of Public Enemies**_

The screen flickered and the video closed. The exaggerated sound of a door closing notified the teams that the terrorists had signed off.

The room was silent. It was as if an icy fog had swept the building, everyone frozen in place, unable to move, unable to speak.

Of course, Gibbs would be the first to recover.

"Tell me you got a trace!" he boomed, blood boiling. The hypothetical fog lifted and heat spread throughout the room, springing everyone into action.

Eric and McGee typed faster than ever, fingers a blur as they danced deliberately across the black keys

"Eric?" McGee questioned, his fingers not missing a beat as he turned to look at him.

Eric didn't answer, just kept typing. Simultaneously, various windows popped up on both screens.

Behind them, Sam, Callen, Tony, and Gibbs watched in anticipation, all wondering how the _hell _they could understand the gibberish on the screen.

With a bang, McGee's head hit his keyboard as he mentally raised the white flag.

Eric uncharacteristically started hitting the computer monitor, banging a fist on top and slapping the screen.

"No…no…NO!" he yelled as a window started to blink red on the display.

Callen stepped forward and voiced in an unsure voice, "I'm guessing…_this _isn't good." To emphasize "this" he pointed a finger and swiveled it around McGee, Eric, and their various technological devices.

"No, this is definitely _not _good." McGee began as he raised his head from its place of surrender. "These guys are smart. They completely blocked their signal through various layers of complex security—"

"Are you telling me you can't trace them?" Gibbs demanded, getting a bit to close, and a bit too red in the face, for comfort.

McGee ducked his head and mumbled a "sorry, Boss" as Eric continued to just stare at his screen.

"So you're telling me some crazy nut-jobs have Ziva, Kensi, and Dom held hostage and we have _nothing_?"

Before McGee could reply, Abby piped up from behind them.

"Um, actually, I might have something…" she said timidly. She may be the favorite, but when Gibbs gets mad, he gets made at everything and everyone, her included.

The men turned around in surprise, most of them completely forgetting Abby was there.

"Whaddya got, Abs?" Gibbs asked in his normal tone of voice. This calmed Abby's erratic heartbeat and she smiled a small smile before turning to a computer on the other side of the room. She pressed several keys and information popped up on the large screen next to her. While everybody else studied the words and images on the screen, Abby began her usual rant.

"While you boys were so busy trying to trace the video signal, I used that time to do something actually productive." Abby pressed a few more keys before walking over to stand in front of the screen.

"I ran the names of the five terrorists and got a hit on every single one. Like we already knew, they're in prison. They were arrested for various nasty, nasty crimes including murder, second-degree murder, sexual assault, armed robbery, and the list goes on. Some really top notch guys. Only thing is, none of them were involved in any criminal activity with each other."

"That's all fine and dandy, Abs, but do you have a point?" McGee quipped from his chair.

Abby's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Just because you don't have one doesn't mean the rest of us can't enjoy sharing ours, Timmy."

McGee raised his hands in surrender before sweeping them in her direction. Secure in her knowledge the floor was hers once again, Abby continued.

"Because all of you are so antsy for some answers, I'll get right to the point. Besides their wide variety of misdeeds, they also are all suspected members of Al Qaeda. So I guess the guy in charge rounded up the usual murderers, rapists, and thieves and convinced them to make one group for his cause. A pu pu platter of public enemies, if you will."

Abby got a few smiles from her little joke and a kiss on the cheek from Gibbs for her effort.

"Good work, Abs."

"Anything for you, El Jefe."

"Okay, so now that we know they were Al Qaeda…what do they have to do with Dom?" input Sam. "I mean, Dom is just a kid. What beef would Al Qaeda have with him?"

"That's what we need to find out." Gibbs looked to the countdown on the screen and swore to himself. They already used up one of their two hours before the terrorists would make contact again.

"Everybody, grab a computer and go through Dom's life. I want everything about him from the second he was born until the moment he was captured. We also need all the information we can get on friends, family, past coworkers, anyone who had continuous contact with him."

"What about Kensi and Ziva, Boss?" Tony asked, already going through some files on Dom.

"Don't worry about them. The terrorists just took them as more leverage, just in case what they had wasn't enough. This has something to do with Dom; we just have to find it."

**Just some quick little announcements…**

**1) Thank you to all of the reviewers (ForeignMusicLyrics, cotedepablo911, vampiremuggle, and Mary Alice). I appreciate every single review and will always graciously accept more! **

**2) There should be another chapter up soon because I have off for the next week! Gotta love spring break…**

**3) Should I get a beta? I check my writing myself and find most of the mistakes (I think) but I just want to be sure. Do you guys think I need one?**

**4) Anybody else see Cote de Pablo on David Letterman last night? She looked stunning as always. They didn't talk about the show, but I did learn some interesting things about Chile. :)**

*****ncis29*****


	13. Follow Your Gut

_*Previously on NCIS and NCIS: L.A.*_

"_Everybody, grab a computer and go through Dom's life. I want everything about him from the second he was born until the moment he was captured. We also need all the information we can get on friends, family, past coworkers, anyone who had continuous contact with him."_

"_What about Kensi and Ziva, Boss?" Tony asked, already going through some files on Dom._

"_Don't worry about them. The terrorists just took them as more leverage, just in case what they had wasn't enough. This has something to do with Dom; we just have to find it."_

_**Chapter 12: Follow Your Gut**_

Gibbs watched the two teams in the room hard at work. McGee and Eric had gotten over their initial defeat at cracking the security to trace the video feed, and were now working as hard as ever to pull through for Dom, Kensi, and Ziva.

Abby was halfheartedly helping McGee and Eric. Although her cries had ceased quickly, she still had the strongest emotions out of any person Gibbs had ever met, and they were a bit disorienting for the poor girl.

While the computer geeks were doing their thing, Tony, Callen, and Sam had formed a circle with their chairs to go through Dom's life. Their setup reminded Gibbs of Tony's "campfire" technique while he was boss, and just hoped it worked as well now as it did back then.

Feeling secure in his team's ability, Callen had all but handed over his share of control over this investigation, he had gone off to do some of his own business. First, he had a meeting with Hettie, just a short debriefing and analysis of the situation. As soon as he left she made yet another phone call to Director Vance, while Gibbs stepped outside to call someone else still in Washington.

His conversation with Ducky was tiring. Of course the old Scotsman had been informed of the abductions of Ziva and Kensi, but no one really had the time to talk to him just yet. He was worried, Gibbs could see that. Ziva and Ducky had gotten quite close in the few years they had known each other. Ducky was one of the few people who wholeheartedly welcomed Ziva when she first became a part of the team. They became even closer after Ziva saved his life using her impressive knife skills, just days after she started doing fieldwork with the team.

Gibbs knew Ducky and Ziva had frequent talks over tea. They both came to America as foreigners, and spoke about their struggles adjusting to the strange American ways. They also shared several common interests, for example theatre, more specifically, ballet and the opera.

Gibbs also knew Ziva had slowly started to withdraw from Ducky and their talks after Jenny's death and Ziva's return to Israel. When she came back they didn't speak as much, something Ducky missed greatly. Ducky tried to talk to Ziva, losing a close friend like Jenny and nearly being killed in a bombing was quite a bit to handle in one summer, not to mention moving back to her home in Israel just to move back to Washington four months later.

One thing Gibbs wasn't sure on was their relationship _now_. Based on what Ducky told him thus far, Ziva never opened up about Somalia. Ducky gently prodded at her to talk to him, to trust him, but Ziva never did talk. Sure, he got the basic rundown and she went to the mandatory therapy meetings, but Ducky was afraid that wasn't enough. With her new imprisonment, Ducky was worried now more than ever for the well-being of their friend.

"_Bring Ziva back safely, Jethro," the old M.E. had said. "The poor girl has been through so much. Get her and the others home safely, and pray for their swift recovery from this nightmare."_

Without an answer Gibbs had hung up, something Ducky was quite used to. Gibbs took a few deep breaths, trying to figure out how he could do what Ducky wanted. This was an extremely delicate situation, one that was testing him professionally and personally. And he just couldn't fail.

Gibbs turned on his toe and retreated inside to escape from the intense heat of California. He passed the empty squad room and climbed the large staircase back up to his team.

Everyone was pretty much in the exact same position as when he left them twenty minutes ago. He glanced at the countdown on the screen and noted they had just over thirty minutes before the terrorists made contact with them again.

He walked over to where Eric, McGee, and Abby were working and looked at what they were doing by poking his head in-between Abby's and McGee's.

"Got anything?"

The typing did not cease at his question, if anything the speed of their dancing fingers increased. Eric looked to Gibbs with a strange expression.

"Uh…maybe? Together we have made a lot of progress on breaching through their security and we still have about half an hour so we could have it by then…" Eric trailed off as Gibbs sighed and wiped a hand across his face in frustration.

All three of them shared nervous looks, wondering what Gibbs thought of their small amount of progress.

To their immense surprise he clapped a hand down on McGee's shoulder and actually encouraged them. "Okay, keep working. Try and get this cracked within the thirty minutes. Hopefully we'll have more luck the second time around."

The trio expressed baffled looks as he turned to go see how the background check on Dom was going.

"Did he just praise and…motivate us?" Eric asked in disbelief.

"He put a hand on my shoulder." McGee stated the obvious.

Abby ignored her male companions and just watched her boss. This was affecting him; when was he _nice_? Except to her, of course. She decided not to let it bother her. Right now, she had work to do.

As Gibbs walked slowly across the large tech-room, Tony pretended to be looking through more files as he whispered through his teeth to Callen.

"Did you see that? _Did you see that?_"

Callen glanced at him and also feigned he hadn't seen a thing.

"If by "that" you mean the master of all that is strict and discouraging giving support and advice then yes, I did see _that_."

Sam listened to them speak and continued to read his file. Right then, Gibbs reached the group of men and bent down to their seated level.

"Whaddya got?"

The three men flinched visibly, as none of them really had anything.

DiNozzo took a breath before looking up at his mentor. "Uh, not much, Boss. Dom was pretty much an average guy. He had a normal childhood with his parents and younger sister. After college he went directly into training for NCIS, and then he came to work here."

"Anything else important?"

This time Sam spoke. "I'm not sure how relevant it is, but his parents divorced while he was in college. And, uh, Dom has a niece. She was born about a year after Dom graduated."

For some reason, that information made Gibbs's gut churn.

His mind raced until he asked the question his gut wanted him to.

"Anybody talk to the sister since this all started?"

Callen shook his head. "Just Dom's parents. Why? Do you think this has anything to do with his sister or niece?"

Gibbs stared for a moment at the screen before slowly shaking his head.

"I don't know." He sighed as the numbers on the countdown informed him they had only five minutes before the next video session was supposed to start.

"I don't know." he repeated. "We've only got five minutes. McGee!" The man looked up from his computer waiting for his order. "Get ready to track over there. Next video starts in five minutes!" McGee nodded and he, Abby, and Eric adjusted themselves and their computers to be ready to start tracking when the time came.

"The rest of you, in front of the screen with me." The men complied and soon everyone was in position.

Gibbs steely blue eyes never left the countdown clock as it neared just three minutes.

"Let's see what these bastards have to say now."


End file.
